How BJP’s social engineering challenges Hooda dynasty’s hold on Haryana

Caste dynamics and strategic alliances make the upcoming election a high-stakes battleground that could redefine the State’s politics.

Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda (right) with his son Deepender Singh Hooda at Parliament House in New Delhi in February 2021. | Photo Credit: Manvender Vashist/PTI

For decades, the politics of Rohtak and Haryana have been shaped by the influence of three generations of leaders from the Congress’s Hooda family. However, BJP’s Arvind Sharma’s victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha election signalled a significant shift in the region’s power dynamics.

In 2019, Sharma, a Brahmin politician, clinched victory over the Jat leader, Deepender Singh Hooda, marking a historic turn in Rohtak’s politics. The battle for dominance in this Jat-dominated stronghold was fiercely contested, with Sharma securing victory by a narrow margin of 0.6 per cent of the votes.

The Hooda family’s grip on Rohtak faced another setback as Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a stalwart figure in Haryana politics and senior Congress leader, suffered defeat in the neighbouring Sonipat constituency. Further underscoring the shifting tides in Haryana’s politics, Ramesh Chander Kaushik of the BJP secured victory with a substantial margin of 14.6 per cent.

Rohtak, also known as the Jat heartland, comprises more than 50 per cent Jats, and the BJP’s consolidation of the non-Jat castes by fielding a Brahmin candidate has worked in the constituency in the previous election. In the wake of the upcoming general election, Rohtak has emerged as a battleground fraught with tension. Here, traditional power structures of Jat dominance have now been faced with the BJP’s strategic social engineering of consolidating the non-Jat voters by capitalising on their resentment against Jat dominance in politics and government jobs.

Punjabi Hindus in Haryana form about 9-10 per cent of the population, with their highest concentration in the Bahadurgarh region. The BJP’s choice of Manohar Lal Khattar as the Chief Minister twice turned them in their favour. However, Khattar’s tenure was marred by allegations of lapses in maintaining law and order, most notably evidenced by incidents such as the Nuh violence and instances of mob lynching last year, as well as the infamous Jat agitation violence in February 2016.

The recent change in the Chief Minister from Khattar to Nayab Singh Saini months before the State election has to be seen from the prism of the ruling party trying a desperate makeover. Besides, it also means that the BJP is trying to bank on other non-Jat votes to retain its power.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini speaks as his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar looks on during a special session of the State Assembly in Chandigarh on March 13, 2024. The recent change in the Chief Minister months before the State election has to be seen from the prism of the ruling BJP trying a desperate makeover. | Photo Credit: PTI

Satish Tyagi, a Rohtak-based journalist and author, says that the dominance of the Jat community has left other groups feeling marginalised in this region. Exploiting this sentiment, the BJP has capitalised on it to its advantage in both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections over the past two elections. The seat is likely to be one of the most keenly contested seats in the upcoming election. In speeches, BJP workers and leaders invoke Mangal Sein’s name alike. Sein was a leader of the BJP from Haryana and the Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana from 1977 to 1979, who is often attributed the credit for the rise of the BJP in the State.

Fighting for dominance

The fight for dominance in this constituency also underscores the broader struggle for control and influence within Haryana’s politics—for both the Congress and the BJP.

Recently, while kicking off the Congress’ campaign in Haryana in Rohtak’s Meham with a Jan Aakrosh rally, Deepender Hooda said that he will fight decisively against the BJP, which has betrayed the farmers, soldiers, and youth.

“The Rohtak (Lok Sabha) seat is BJP’s target. I am their target, and you, the people of Rohtak, are also the target. I was their target last time as well. It is because the result of this seat will not only decide an MP, but I want to assure you that when the Congress wins this seat with your blessings, it will go on to make the new government at the State,” said Hooda, who had lost the Rohtak Parliamentary seat to BJP’s Arvind Sharma by a whisker in 2019.

While Bhupinder Hooda was Chief Minister (2005-14), Deepender Hooda got his training from him, even though he had lived outside India for many years for his education. At 27, he was the youngest parliamentarian when he entered politics in 2005. Before that election, there were doubts about whether the younger Hooda could win. He did, defeating his BJP rival by 2,31,958 votes to bag the Rohtak seat. The next time around, in 2009, it was even better. Deepender’s winning margin had stretched to a massive 4,45,736 votes. He is the third generation of his family to hold the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat until Arvind Sharma’s arrival.

Many in Sanghi, the Hooda family’s native village in Rohtak district, note Deepender’s political evolution from a grassroots leader.

The results of the upcoming Lok Sabha election in 10 parliamentary seats in Haryana will also boost the cadres of whichever party performs better and pave its way for a victory in the Assembly election due later this year. “For the Congress, their victory on this seat is important for the survival of the grand old party [referring to the Congress],” said Satish Tyagi, author of Politics of Chaudhary. Sitting in his Rohtak residence, Tyagi added, “This is a do-or-die election for the Hooda family.”

The adjoining seat of Sonipat, too, has a similar significance for the Congress’ survival. “In 2019, Bhupinder Hooda was defeated badly in the Sonipat seat. Sonipat is still, to date, known as Old Rohtak. So, it is an interesting phenomenon that the father-son duo, who claim this region as their stronghold, both lost,” Tyagi noted.

Hooda’s native

Roughly 15 km away from Rohtak city lies Sanghi, where the family has an electoral history of over a hundred years, starting from Deepender’s grandfather Chaudhary Ranbir Singh Hooda who was the first Lok Sabha MP from Rohtak during the first election in independent India in 1952. Maha Singh, 78, from the village said: The Hooda family has worked for our development. The development of the village is visible with metallic roads and multistory pucca houses. Residents of Rohtak city too attribute much of its development to the Hoodas.

Dushyant Chautala, Jannayak Janta Party chief and former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, in August 2023. Chautala has claimed the legacy of stalwart farmer leader Chaudhary Devi Lal, who was Deputy Prime Minister twice between 1989 and 1991. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV

Bhupinder Singh Hooda defeated Indian National Lok Dal’s Chaudhary Devi Lal, a stalwart farmer leader who had held the position of India’s Deputy Prime Minister twice—under V.P. Singh (1989-90) and Chandra Shekhar (1990-91). Since then, Rohtak came to be known as “Hooda parivar ka garh” (the stronghold of the Hooda family). Until the BJP arrived in 2014, the power was shared between Chaudhary Devi Lal’s INLD and the Congress.

Congress’ Bansi Lal’s influence is now reduced to his daughter-in-law Kiran Choudhry, who contests from Tosham in the Haryana Assembly. Devi Lal’s legacy has been claimed by the INLD and Dushyant Chautala’s (Devi Lal’s grandson) new faction, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP). Devi Lal belonged to Rohtak and his legacy still holds sway in the Hisar region (adjacent to Rohtak) from where his grandson Dushyant Chautala successfully contested the Lok Sabha election in 2014.

The Brahmin memory

The Brahmin community, though numerically smaller than Jats, too, has had a highlight in Haryana’s politics. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma, the first Chief Minister of Haryana, was a Brahmin from Jhajjar. However, since then, there has been no Brahmin Chief Minister in the State. In Rohtak’s electoral history since Independence, sitting MP Arvind Sharma is the first Brahmin MP. Still, Kuldeep Sharma, a Brahmin from Sanghi village, who supports the Hooda family against his community, says: “Brahmins who think that voting for the BJP will get them representation are misguided.”

The Muslim factor

Chaudhary Mahender Singh, an elderly resident of Rohtak, sits comfortably in his home, puffing on a hookah as he delves into discussions about politics. A keen observer of evolving politics in Haryana for decades, he reflects on the evolving landscape of Haryana’s political dynamics. In his nuanced analysis, Mahender Singh points out a notable shift: the traditional Hindu-Muslim divide in the region has gradually given way to a new divide centred around Jat and non-Jat identities.

Fellow resident Suresh Deshwal, who belongs to the Jat community, says: “There couldn’t be a Hindu-Muslim divide in Haryana like in UP or other States, so the BJP has created a Jat-non Jat divide.” Muslims account for nearly 80 per cent of the population in Nuh. In fact, more than half of Haryana’s total Muslims (8 per cent of the population) live in Nuh, which is part of the Gurugram Lok Sabha constituency.

Farmers’ protests

“The farmers of Haryana are very angry with the BJP,” said Ravinder Hooda, 38, a farmer from Sanghi who actively participated in the 2021 farmers’ agitation against the withdrawal of three laws brought in by the Centre. He added, “The Hoodas are not just the leaders of the Jats but of all farmers. He always speaks for the farming community from all castes and communities.”

Maha Singh (75), another resident of the village, asked, “Why wouldn’t we like him [Deependra Hooda] when he comes here for every death and all weddings?” He added, “On the other hand, Arvind Sharma will not be able to tell the names of the villages.” Further, Ravinder Hooda said, “We have been demanding MSP for all crops for ages. The government does not listen to us. The farmers are forced to come on the ground to agitate. Then they [BJP] also intimidate the farmers with police cases.”

In 2014, largely due to the non-Jat support, the BJP swept the Assembly election and formed the government under Manohar Lal Khattar, the first non-Jat Chief Minister of Haryana in around 18 years. In 2019, the BJP won all 10 Lok Sabha seats by mobilising all caste groups, including a Jat outreach with a hyper-nationalist pitch post-Pulwama.

Farmers from Haryana and Punjab at the Singhu border during their protest against the three farm laws in Delhi in January 2021. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

“JJP has a secret alliance with BJP to cut Congress votes,” Ravinder Hooda said. This seems to be the popular theory in the village. Referring to the recent resignation by Dushyant Chautala as the Deputy Chief Minister and the now-ruptured BJP-JJP alliance in the Assembly, he added, “He should have resigned when the farmers, who voted for him in 2019 and put their trust in him, were agitating and struggling.” There is a sense that some Jat votes will get divided by the JJP making it a triangular contest.

Speculations apart, Jats seem to be consolidating behind the Congress.

In Western Uttar Pradesh, some sway of the Jat community, despite the ongoing farmers’ protest, is expected towards the BJP due to its alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). But the absence of a charismatic leader akin to Yogi Adityanath has muted the political fanfare surrounding the BJP in Haryana.

The ruling BJP is scrambling for the right candidates in Haryana for the Lok Sabha election. The party is trying hard to convince film star Randeep Hooda to fight the election on its ticket from the Rohtak constituency. The party’s central leadership wants to shift its sitting MP Arvind Sharma to the neighbouring Sonipat as internal surveys have shown that he may lose from Rohtak. Randeep Hooda’s mother Asha Hooda has been a long-time worker of the BJP.

In fact, six of its 10 candidates have past connections with the Congress including industrialist Naveen Jindal, who will fight from the Kurukshetra seat after joining the BJP on March 24. Jindal had won the seat in 2009 on the Congress ticket. Former Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar is another such leader, who was once close to Rahul Gandhi.

Regional rumble

Rao Inderjit Singh, a BJP member representing the Gurugram constituency in Haryana, traces his lineage to Rao Tula Ram, a revered freedom fighter and ruler of the historical state of Ahirwal with its capital at Rewari. As the son of Maharaja Rao Birendra Singh, a former Chief Minister of Haryana, Singh commands a comparable level of influence as the Hooda family. Within the BJP’s strategy to consolidate support from non-Jat castes, Inderjit Singh has emerged as a prominent figure representing the Ahir community. As such, Faridabad and Gurugram have better chances for BJP. Inderjit Singh stands out as one of the most vocal critics of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, accusing him of prioritising development in his own constituency of Rohtak at the expense of other regions in the State.

Hailing from south Haryana—encompassing districts such as Gurgaon, Faridabad, Mewat, Palwal, Rewari, Mahendergarh, and Bhiwani—Inderjit Singh’s critique is rooted in a perceived disparity in developmental schemes. Before quitting the Congress back in 2013, Inderjit Singh alleged that as Chief Minister, Bhupinder Hooda was ignoring south Haryana.

Inderjit Singh presented data procured through RTI to support his allegation: out of a total of 5,135 announcements of schemes in Haryana, 2,045 were for the three districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar, and Sonipat that comprise areas of Hooda’s own constituency and that of his son Deepender Singh Hooda. Of the 3,356 completed schemes, 1,560 were from these three districts. On September 23, 2013, he resigned from Congress. Inderjit Singh’s staunch criticism of Bhupinder Hooda and his allegations of regional favouritism have contributed to the polarised political climate.

Potential for AAP

There seems to be a potential for the AAP’s growth in the State. While the party can get votes based on issues, the AAP does not have a strong organisational structure here.

The former AAP chief Naveen Jaihind, who has not had a successful political career, announced his withdrawal from active politics in February 2020 after his wife Swati Maliwal, then chief of the Delhi Commission for Women, announced their divorce. The recent arrest of Kejriwal has resulted in some anger too—locals in Rohtak say that he has been arrested to divert the public from the electoral bonds data. Author and journalist Satish Tyagi believes that there is a 30 per cent potential vote bank for the AAP who are looking for fresh issue-based politics in Haryana. The Congress and the AAP have entered into a seat-sharing agreement as part of the INDIA bloc.

For the time being, the politics of Haryana, however, seems a BJP vs Congress fight. While the BJP will hope for a repeat of its 2019 Lok Sabha election clean sweep, the Congress’ hope hinges on the 2019 Assembly election results in which it doubled its tally to 31 seats from 16 in 2014. Especially with the BJP in power for the last two terms in the State but the Congress having improved its show substantially in the 2019 Assembly election, this will be a battle of nerves.